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Some kids too poor for Columbus’ newest preschool grants

Providers in low-income areas say their students don’t qualify for program funds

Chris Russell | The Columbus DispatchAssistant teacher Jazmine Blaney helps Calvin Baker with his graduation mortar board before a graduation ceremony at Hilltop Preschool at the Hilltop Lutheran Church on June 4, 2014.

Jenna Watson | THE COLUMBUS DISPATCHTeacher's assistant Jazmine Blaney embraces Calvin Baker as a group of 3- and 4-year-old Hilltop preschool children prepare for graduation at Hilltop Lutheran Church.

Chris Russell | The Columbus DispatchBlaze Cain waits patiently, playing with his tassel, before preschool graduation.

Chris Russell | The Columbus DispatchBlaze Cain sits patiently as a teacher adjusts his graduation tassel before a preschool graduation.

Chris Russell | The Columbus DispatchMason Raines enjoys playing with his tassel before his preschool graduation ceremony.

Chris Russell | The Columbus DispatchErin Alderson adjusts the tassel on her mortar board while she and her classmates at Hilltop Preschool wait for a graduation ceremony at the Hilltop Lutheran Church.

Jenna Watson | THE COLUMBUS DISPATCHJohnathen Mullins walks down the aisle at Hilltop Lutheran Church for a graduation ceremony for 3- and 4-year-old Hilltop preschool students.

Chris Russell | The Columbus DispatchRonaldo Perez-Bautista looks for his parents while sitting through a Hilltop Preschool graduation at the Hilltop Lutheran Church.

Chris Russell | The Columbus DispatchEarly Childhood Program Director Laura Moehrman adjusts Erin Alderson's tassel during her graduation from the Hilltop Preschool at the Hilltop Lutheran Church

Jenna Watson | THE COLUMBUS DISPATCHHilltop preschool students walk down the aisle after receiving certificates of graduation at Hilltop Lutheran Church, Tuesday morning, June 4, 2014.

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Despite a documented dearth of high-quality preschool programs for low-income Columbus children,
a $5 million city program to pay for 600 new pre-kindergarten spots is on track to create just
245.

A 2012 study found a desperate need for preschools on the Hilltop, for example, but a preschool
director there said she didn’t bother to apply for the city grants because the neighborhood she
serves is too poor to qualify.

That’s because the city’s program is aimed at parents facing what some call “the cliff,” where
working parents earn too much money to qualify for programs such as Head Start but not enough to
pay for preschool, said Matt Smydo, an education policy specialist for Mayor Michael B.
Coleman.

Participants in the city program have to earn 125 percent of the poverty line or above to get
in, which means a family of four would have to make at least $30,000 a year. Families can make up
to 300 percent of the poverty level, or about $71,600 for a family of four, and still qualify for
the city program. At that income, they’d be responsible for a co-payment of $33 a month.

With those income restrictions, about seven providers applied for city grants to create a total
of 245 new preschool seats, and not all will necessarily get funding, Smydo said.

At Hilltop Preschool last week, little graduates donned caps and gowns and marched up the center
aisle of Hilltop Lutheran Church, marking the completion of a year of learning. But look through
the church’s windows, and the troubles facing the neighborhood stare back: The house across the
street is abandoned and marred by an overgrown yard, graffiti and window openings that alternately
display broken glass and boards.

City leaders figured that other preschool grant programs help families with lower incomes. But
there still aren’t nearly enough slots for everyone, and many kids fall through the cracks of those
programs because they can’t meet various requirements, said Laura Moehrman, the executive director
of Hilltop Preschool.

“There’s a whole other population who don’t even have the opportunities of maybe even working,
or there are some complex things in their family where they are stuck in poverty,” Moehrman
said.

Hundreds not served

A 2012 study by Learn4Life Columbus found that only 500 preschool slots were available on the
Hilltop to serve the almost 2,000 children between the ages of 3 and 5 years who lived there. A
variety of government programs provide preschool funding, but each has different eligibility
requirements, said Sandy Miller, project director for school readiness with Learn4Life
Columbus.

Head Start, the federally funded program that prioritizes families below the poverty line,
provides free preschool, and parents don’t have to be working to qualify, Miller said. Columbus
City Schools serves about 1,150 preschoolers and has a waiting list of hundreds, said Miller,
formerly the director of the state’s Office of Early Learning and School Readiness.

Among other things, the Columbus City Schools levy that voters rejected in November would have
doubled the number of preschoolers served by the district.

A program available through the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services provides vouchers for
day care, which can include preschool, to parents who need it so they can work. But the preschool
must occur during the hours the parent is working, and the program is designed to help the parent
work, Moehrman said.

Last fall, the Ohio legislature increased by $10 million the amount for
early-childhood-education grants to fund about 3,000 new half-day preschool slots in high-need
areas across the state, including a few hundred more in Franklin County. Families can earn incomes
up to 200 percent of the poverty line and qualify for that program, according to the Ohio
Department of Education. Providers get $4,000 per child per year to provide at least 2.5 hours of
class per weekday.

City program valuable

The city’s program “was a noble first attempt, and that’s great,” said Jane Leach, the founder
of Hilltop Preschool, which is expanding from 20 seats last year to up to 90 this year using the
state Department of Education grant program. The organization still has room for 40 more students
and could expand further if the city’s income requirement were changed, Leach said.

Coleman, Columbus schools Superintendent Dan Good and other leaders are to kick off the program
with an event at 11 a.m. today at the Gladden Community House in Franklinton.

The city’s program provides $8,400 per child to providers who offer six-hour-a-day preschool for
a full year. Parents must work at least 30 hours a week. The city might tweak its rules based on
feedback from providers before offering a second round of grants later this year, Smydo said.

Linda Day-Mackessy, senior vice president at the YMCA, which provides about 600 Head Start
slots, says the city should keep its income requirement because the program is aimed at a niche of
people who don’t qualify for other programs — the working poor. Preschool can cost working parents
about $10,000 a year, similar to tuition at a state university, Day-Mackessy said.

The seven organizations that applied for city preschool grants propose to teach between 20 and
60 preschoolers each at 14 locations, most heavily on the South Side, but also on the Hilltop, the
West Side, Linden and in other areas, Smydo said. One group proposes to set up shop in Dublin to
serve Columbus City Schools kids, he said.